A history of gum disease (periodontitis) may be associated with an increased risk of tumors positive for human papillomavirus (HPV) among patients with head and neck squamous cell carcinomas (SCC).
According to the National Cancer Institute, the incidence of oropharyngeal cancers has steadily increased in the United States since 1973, despite a significant decline in tobacco use since 1965. Study authors attribute the increase to oral HPV infection.
In a small study, a tiny light attached to a probe measured changes in cells and blood vessels in the small intestine close to that organ’s junction with the pancreas, allowing physicians at Mayo Clinic’s campus in Florida to detect pancreatic cancer 100% of the time. This minimally invasive technique, called Polarization Gating Spectroscopy, will now be tested in a much larger international clinical trial.
Research has shown that women who receive neoadjuvant chemotherapy are more likely to achieve breast conservation than those receiving chemotherapy after surgery. Therefore, women with breast cancer often undergo chemotherapy prior to surgery.
Now, a new study published online in the journal Radiology points to the fact that MRI provides an indication of a breast tumor’s response to presurgical chemotherapy significantly earlier than clinical examination.
Each year throughout the world, between 2 and 3 million nonmelanoma skin cancers develop, according to the World Health Organization. In the United States alone, it is estimated that 1 in 5 will develop the disease at some point in their lives.
Recently, researchers at the Society of Nuclear Medicine 2012 Annual Meeting announced that a customized patch treatment for basal cell carcinoma has been developed that entirely destroyed facial tumors without surgery or major radiation therapy in 80% of patients studied.
Previous studies suggest that taking nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), which include aspirin, ibuprofen, and naproxen, as well as a variety of other nonprescription and prescription drugs, can decrease an individual’s risk of developing some types of cancer. New study findings, published early online in Cancer, indicate that these drugs may specifically protect patients from skin cancer.
With low participation rates in clinical trials, researchers are constantly seeking new methods to alter cancer patients’ perceptions and negative attitudes toward clinical trial involvement. In a recent study, researchers at Moffitt Cancer Center offered 2 different kinds of intervention to 2 groups of adults with cancer who had not yet been offered participation in clinical trials.
A majority of patients with incurable cancer talk with a physician about options for care at the end of life. Yet, according to a study by Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, this discussion often does not take place until late in the course of the illness.
Along with survival chances, cost and side effects are also major considerations when patients choose therapies. In fact, new study findings reveal that a patient’s socioeconomic status, more than any other characteristic, can predict whether the patient will choose high efficacy, low cost, or low toxicity when selecting a treatment.
The antioxidant supplement beta-carotene is safe for use during radiation therapy treatments for prostate cancer. It does not escalate the risk of prostate cancer death or metastases, despite previous safety concerns, according to a study published in the May issue of the International Journal of Radiation Oncology • Biology • Physics.
Based on a recent study, younger patients with colorectal cancer were more likely to present advanced-stage tumors at diagnosis and metastasize much sooner. However, these same patients had better than or equal survival to patients 50 and older, according to data presented at the 2012 American Society of Clinical Oncology Annual Meeting.
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